The Everton Board Thread 2015/16 [ Not takeover related ]

[Foot Long Hot Dog]

No. You're focusing on immediate returns. I'm focusing on the long term stability of the business. I don't care one whit if we make a tiny profit (or no profit, or even a small loss!) on growing the fanbase over the first 5-10 years. It sets us up for a better long term financial outlook, which you seem to be ignoring to bang on about kit sales.

What should we do?
https://www.grandoldteam.com/forum/threads/improving-evertons-profile.67452/

You say you're focusing on the long term sustainability of the business and yet don't know the difference between turnover and profit mate. What changes after 5-10 years like? You make no dosh out the extended fanbase for that period and then how does that then all of a sudden start yielding a return? Oh and I wasn't banging on about shirt sales, you brought them up mate, I was merely contextualising the numbers you were quoting.

 

[Pettifogger]

The point that some are missing is a simple, but powerful one.

In the US, Everton have an almost unique selling point, plus Tim Howard. That should be the agenda, not something that every other club can do.

Saturation and connection would likely help the most, and I know that's a pretty obvious observation. Everton is not a household name in the US, where only the top world clubs are. For people looking for a club to follow, a lot will want to remedy the lack of authenticity in simply "picking" one by not picking a top 4 club. So that puts Everton in a decent window of clubs that are competitive but with more to achieve. Many adopters will want to feel they're on the ride somewhere, not picking a team already on top.

In the near term, utilizing the US supporter clubs to evangelize for the club is a good concept. Here in Atlanta, one of the two biggest soccer/football bars in the city is the home of the Everton club. Atlanta, likely in part due to that reason, has one of the bigger supporter clubs in the US. You can't go to that bar to watch on a Sat/Sun without seeing Everton stuff hanging from railings. It's a natural way to find a club to support, at least in this context.

Another tour would help, and picking out soft spots of undeveloped support would be wise. Colleges, growing cities in the Southeast and Texas where soccer/football is only now becoming more popular, etc. Americans looking for a club to be a part of are looking for a way to make that connection genuine. Howard gives one, local clubs provide another. Partnership with MLS would help, but a lot of those people are aligned already. Honestly, even a casual relationship or interest by Everton with other American sports teams on any level (pro, college, baseball, American football,etc.) may be more productive ("Seamus Coleman tweets support for Ohio State? Looks like Everton is the club for me" says everyone from Ohio).

Not sure how to make that happen in a systematic way, or how to avoid alienation, but I think that is the type of connection that will provide returns.

 

[roydo]

Trouble is we have and he doesn't appear overly interested.
Others scenarios have been proposed and ignored/blanked, shameful really.

I was being ironic!

But you are right. And it just so, so frustrating. This US lack of marketing/imagination is one of the main things that get me fuming. The answers to it are literally on a plate.

It reminds me of those folk on Dragons Den who invent a brilliant device to solve a problem that doesnt really exist, then some blokes come in and present a dead simple gadget that is so obvious you go "why didnt I think of that ffs?"

Everton in the US is the dead simple, and obvious market to go for imo.

 

[RaleighBlue]

You say you're focusing on the long term sustainability of the business and yet don't know the difference between turnover and profit mate. What changes after 5-10 years like? You make no dosh out the extended fanbase for that period and then how does that then all of a sudden start yielding a return? Oh and I wasn't banging on about shirt sales, you brought them up mate, I was merely contextualising the numbers you were quoting.

It starts yielding a return because a larger fanbase = more television coverage = better sponsorship deals + better kit deals.

More fans fundamentally equates to more commercial revenue. We currently get sponsored similarly to lower-mid table clubs. This is because our reach is similar to theirs. Extending our reach through building a larger fanbase improves our position when negotiating sponsorship and merchandising deals.

Do you think Liverpool get £20 million shirt sponsorship deals because they are better on the pitch than us? Or is it because they have a larger fanbase globally and get more general coverage which equates to better advertising for their sponsors?

 

[Dithering Dougie]

It's growing - very, very quickly. That's the point that we're trying to make. Utd/Chelsea/Arsenal/Liverpool have already sucked up loads of the current fanbase - but there is going to be a much larger number of fans coming thanks to the World Cup becoming a genuine massive event here, the MLS steadily improving, and NBC pushing the PL hard. Those fans have no allegiances and we should be targeting them.

The US is a weird market, and one that I personally believe Everton could do very well in in large part due to our fascination with underdogs and good narratives.

They're all successful on the pitch though aren't they. That's where it all starts. Given we've got limited resources and every spare penny goes into the team would it really be beneficial to try and break into a new market when we've got nothing to show. Look at City I bet 5 years ago nobody gave them a second thought in the U.S., but they've a similar background to us, now after a few years of winning they'll be one of the leading clubs. If the winning stops so would the backing.

 

[roydo]

Saturation and connection would likely help the most, and I know that's a pretty obvious observation. Everton is not a household name in the US, where only the top world clubs are. For people looking for a club to follow, a lot will want to remedy the lack of authenticity in simply "picking" one by not picking a top 4 club. So that puts Everton in a decent window of clubs that are competitive but with more to achieve. Many adopters will want to feel they're on the ride somewhere, not picking a team already on top.

In the near term, utilizing the US supporter clubs to evangelize for the club is a good concept. Here in Atlanta, one of the two biggest soccer/football bars in the city is the home of the Everton club. Atlanta, likely in part due to that reason, has one of the bigger supporter clubs in the US. You can't go to that bar to watch on a Sat/Sun without seeing Everton stuff hanging from railings. It's a natural way to find a club to support, at least in this context.

Another tour would help, and picking out soft spots of undeveloped support would be wise. Colleges, growing cities in the Southeast and Texas where soccer/football is only now becoming more popular, etc. Americans looking for a club to be a part of are looking for a way to make that connection genuine. Howard gives one, local clubs provide another. Partnership with MLS would help, but a lot of those people are aligned already. Honestly, even a casual relationship or interest by Everton with other American sports teams on any level (pro, college, baseball, American football,etc.) may be more productive ("Seamus Coleman tweets support for Ohio State? Looks like Everton is the club for me" says everyone from Ohio).

Not sure how to make that happen in a systematic way, or how to avoid alienation, but I think that is the type of connection that will provide returns.

Yep. But when folk pick a club, they do so, politely, from a position of ignorance. So top 4 would be an obvious destination.

The USP of Everton, the brand, in the US is NOT a top 4 club. NOT a rich club. NOT a successful club, (in the window of football in the US).

It is the opposite of those, but still a superb club, with the narrative that will chime with the natural inclination of a lot of US sports fans.

 

[riddick]

As a total aside - last year at a winter work party I was talking with a guy who is a marketing professional here in the States (he was the husband of a coworker, so much more of a standup professional than the sorts I deal with on a regular basis). We were both rather drunk and got to talking about sports. He had no knowledge of Everton or much about football at all. Within about 5 minutes he was salivating over our marketing potential in the States. He was particularly focused on the storied history, Howard and the 'sleeping giant' narrative.

He was absolutely stunned that we weren't hammering those narratives to the US.

wasnt there a story going around recently that there was some marketing guy who wanted to 'sell' Everton in the US, wanted NO money, just a % of anything gained from it and was shot down immediately?

 

[RaleighBlue]

They're all successful on the pitch though aren't they. That's where it all starts. Given we've got limited resources and every spare penny goes into the team would it really be beneficial to try and break into a new market when we've got nothing to show. Look at City I bet 5 years ago nobody gave them a second thought in the U.S., but they've a similar background to us, now after a few years of winning they'll be one of the leading clubs. If the winning stops so would the backing.

Liverpool have not been successful on the pitch since 95% of the American fanbase has picked a team. Those fans have been sold on the marketing of Liverpool being a storied and historic club, the 'famous European nights', the Kop end, and YNWA.

You'll note I did not include City, they are an also ran because their narrative is less attractive to the American audience - that won't last, success does bring fans - it's just not the only way. Tottenham is one of the larger fanbases in the US. Larger than City, and probably larger than Chelsea at a guess.

Edit: We also had crap PL coverage until recently, and those tended to be the only televised teams regularly.

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Liverpool have not been successful on the pitch since 95% of the American fanbase has picked a team. Those fans have been sold on the marketing of Liverpool being a storied and historic club, the 'famous European nights', the Kop end, and YNWA.

You'll note I did not include City, they are an also ran because their narrative is less attractive to the American audience - that won't last, success does bring fans - it's just not the only way. Tottenham is one of the larger fanbases in the US. Larger than City, and probably larger than Chelsea at a guess.

It was only 4 years ago Liverpool won the league cup and were beaten finalists in the fa cup, two years ago they narrowly missed out on winning the league, and last season they were in the CL. That's pretty successful in relation to the vast majority of other teams in the league. In fact if that happened to us over a similar period of time people would look back on it as a golden period.

As for Spurs, isn't that a good example of how pointless it is then? If they're popular over there what's it actually helped them achieve over here ?

 

[RaleighBlue]

It was only 4 years ago Liverpool won the league cup and were beaten finalists in the fa cup, two years ago they narrowly missed out on winning the league, and last season they were in the CL. That's pretty successful in relation to the vast majority of other teams in the league. In fact if that happened to us over a similar period of time people would look back on it as a golden period.

As for Spurs, isn't that a good example of how pointless it is then? If they're popular over there what's it actually helped them achieve over here ?

Spurs are slightly different to us - but at a glance, it would assist us in achieving a small degree of financial independence from the Sky money, perhaps allowing us to spend the Sky money on more than we currently do - stadium upgrades, new players, etc. Whether it can help us get over the top 4 hump is not really the point - it will certainly not HURT us get over that hump, and has the potential to allow us to be separated from the oncoming pack.

Additionally having a larger fanbase makes us more attractive to investment, as we become more clearly a business with a growth plan.

So they lost a cup final, much like we have recently, won the Mickey Mouse cup that really no one (even over here) pays attention to (it's not televised..or if it is it's in a weirdo high cable package) and had one good season - Most American Liverpool fans did not become Liverpool fans because of the 2nd place finish and Suarez. They became Liverpool fans because of the 'romance' of the club.

 

[sageyefc]

It was only 4 years ago Liverpool won the league cup and were beaten finalists in the fa cup, two years ago they narrowly missed out on winning the league, and last season they were in the CL. That's pretty successful in relation to the vast majority of other teams in the league. In fact if that happened to us over a similar period of time people would look back on it as a golden period.

As for Spurs, isn't that a good example of how pointless it is then? If they're popular over there what's it actually helped them achieve over here ?

Better commercial deals, more revenue

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Spurs are slightly different to us - but at a glance, it would assist us in achieving a small degree of financial independence from the Sky money, perhaps allowing us to spend the Sky money on more than we currently do - stadium upgrades, new players, etc. Whether it can help us get over the top 4 hump is not really the point - it will certainly not HURT us get over that hump, and has the potential to allow us to be separated from the oncoming pack.

Additionally having a larger fanbase makes us more attractive to investment, as we become more clearly a business with a growth plan.

So they lost a cup final, much like we have recently, won the Mickey Mouse cup that really no one (even over here) pays attention to (it's not televised..or if it is it's in a weirdo high cable package) and had one good season - Most American Liverpool fans did not become Liverpool fans because of the 2nd place finish and Suarez. They became Liverpool fans because of the 'romance' of the club.

Actually I was referring to the fact that you said Spurs are one of the biggest supported clubs over there, bigger than Chelsea and City, and look what difference it makes to them.... nothing. At least nothing that's obvious.

As for the idea more fans make you more attractive to outside investment, how did City and Chelsea ever get bought out originally if that the case and not us or say Newcastle?

 

[Dithering Dougie]

Better commercial deals, more revenue

That's because they finish higher up the league than us and therefore play more ugh profile games, not because they've got more fans in the U.S.

It's all about winning.

 

[RaleighBlue]

Actually I was referring to the fact that you said Spurs are one of the biggest supported clubs over there, bigger than Chelsea and City, and look what difference it makes to them.... nothing. At least nothing that's obvious.

As for the idea more fans make you more attractive to outside investment, how did City and Chelsea ever get bought out originally if that the case and not us or say Newcastle?

They make more money than us. Without winning a thing. They have a much broader support base. Without winning a thing.

 

[roydo]

and look what difference it makes to them.... nothing. At least nothing that's obvious.

You know their new stadium has a long term contract with the NFL to play American Football dont you? One reason why they increased the capacity to accommodate the NFL rules or something like that. @Yid4life will know the details.

"Tonight, live from London, home of Spurs, the Dolphins versus the Yankees"

Accidental that.